With confirmation of Barclays' sale of its iShares business for £3bn and better than expected US economic figures, leading shares are ending the shortened holiday week in a fairly positive mood.

The FTSE 100 is now up 50.85 points at 3976.37, lifted by banks and miners, while Wall Street has opened nearly 150 points higher. Wells Fargo has just issued upbeat quarterly figures, prompting the hope that the banking sector might really be seeing a revival in its fortunes. Also helping sentiment was news that the US trade deficit shrank by 28% in February to its smallest level since November 1999. Earlier today official figures showed the UK's trade gap had narrowed by more than City forecasts.

There was a mixed picture on the US jobs front, however. The number of workers filing new jobless benefit claims fell last week, but the total number on benefit climbed 95,000 to 5.84m.

Meanwhile Barclays shares have risen 18.4p to 176.2p after private equity group CVC Capital Partners bought iShares for £3bn, in a deal 70% funded by the bank itself. Barclays expects a net gain of £1.5bn from the sale.

Other banks are also moving higher, with Lloyds Banking Group up 6.3p to 78p and Royal Bank of Scotland 2.4p better at 28.5p.

Mining group Vedanta Resources is up 74.5p at 847.5p after its fourth quarter production figures, while Xstrata is up 53p at 577p.

But Cadbury has fallen ahead of the chocolate-filled Easter weekend, down 18.5p to 516.5p on worries about consumers cutting back on eggs due to the downturn. Goldman Sachs has not helped by downgrading the food and beverage sector from neutral to underweight, as part of its strategy update.